Page - 211 - in Programming for Computations – Python - A Gentle Introduction to Numerical Simulations with Python

A.2 AnacondaandSpyder 211 A.2 AnacondaandSpyder Anaconda14 is a free Python distribution produced by ContinuumAnalytics and containsabout200Pythonpackages,aswellasPythonitself, fordoingawiderange ofscientificcomputations.Anacondacanbedownloadedfromhttp://continuum.io/ downloads.ChoosePythonversion2.7. The IntegratedDevelopmentEnvironment (IDE) Spyder is includedwithAna- conda and is our recommended tool forwriting and running Python programs on Mac andWindows, unless you have preference for a plain text editor forwriting programsanda terminalwindowfor running them. A.2.1 SpyderonMac Spyder is started by typingspyder in a (new)Terminal application. If youget an errormessageunknownlocale, youneed to type the following line in theTerminal application, or preferably put the line in your$HOME/.bashrcUnix initialization file: export LANG=en_US.UTF-8; export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 A.2.2 InstallationofAdditionalPackages Anacondainstalls thepip tool that ishandyto install additionalpackages. InaTer- minal applicationonMacor inaPowerShell terminalonWindows,write Terminal pip install --user packagename A.3 HowtoWriteandRunaPythonProgram Youhavebasically threechoices todevelopand test aPythonprogram: 1. usea text editoranda terminalwindow 2. use an IntegratedDevelopment Environment (IDE), like Spyder, which offers awindowwith a text editor and functionality to run programs andobserve the output 3. use the IPythonnotebook The IPythonnotebook is brieflydescried inSect.A.5,while the other twooptions areoutlinedbelow. 14https://store.continuum.io/cshop/anaconda/